Deletable nanotube circuit

ABSTRACT

Carbon nanotube template arrays may be edited to form connections between proximate nanotubes and/or to delete undesired nanotubes or nanotube junctions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to and claims the benefit of theearliest available effective filing date(s) from the following listedapplication(s) (the “Related Applications”) (e.g., claims earliestavailable priority dates for other than provisional patent applicationsor claims benefits under 35 USC §119(e) for provisional patentapplications, for any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of the Related Application(s)).

RELATED APPLICATIONS

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. ______, entitled CONNECTIBLE NANOTUBE CIRCUIT,attorney docket no. 0505-026-001B-000000, naming Roderick A. Hyde,Muriel Y. Ishikawa, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Clarence T. Tegreene, CharlesWhitmer, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed contemporaneouslyherewith, which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which acurrently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of thefiling date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. ______, entitled NANOTUBE CIRCUIT ANALYSIS SYSTEMAND METHOD, attorney docket no. 0505-026-001C-000000, naming Roderick A.Hyde, Muriel Y. Ishikawa, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Clarence T. Tegreene,Charles Whitmer, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filedcontemporaneously herewith, which is currently co-pending, or is anapplication of which a currently co-pending application is entitled tothe benefit of the filing date.

The United States Patent Office (USPTO) has published a notice to theeffect that the USPTO's computer programs require that patent applicantsreference both a serial number and indicate whether an application is acontinuation or continuation-in-part. Stephen G. Kunin, Benefit ofPrior-Filed Application, USPTO Official Gazette Mar. 18, 2003, availableat http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/og/2003/week11/patbene.htm.The present applicant entity has provided above a specific reference tothe application(s) from which priority is being claimed as recited bystatute. Applicant entity understands that the statute is unambiguous inits specific reference language and does not require either a serialnumber or any characterization, such as “continuation” or“continuation-in-part,” for claiming priority to U.S. patentapplications. Notwithstanding the foregoing, applicant entityunderstands that the USPTO's computer programs have certain data entryrequirements, and hence applicant entity is designating the presentapplication as a continuation-in-part of its parent applications as setforth above, but expressly points out that such designations are not tobe construed in any way as any type of commentary and/or admission as towhether or not the present application contains any new matter inaddition to the matter of its parent application(s).

All subject matter of the Related Applications and of any and allparent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of the RelatedApplications is incorporated herein by reference to the extent suchsubject matter is not inconsistent herewith.

BACKGROUND

According to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors(ITRS), device sizes will continue to shrink, roughly in accordance withMoore's Law (which predicts a doubling of the number of transistors perunit area every 1.5-2 years). As device size requirements grow ever morestringent, traditional silicon lithography techniques may becomeinadequate, requiring a shift in materials and/or in circuit designtechniques to keep pace with demands for improved performance.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, a method of constructing a circuit comprises providing anarray of carbon nanotubes including a plurality of segments. At least asubset of the segments intersect to form electrically responsivejunctions. The method further includes selectively inactivating at leastone segment or junction. Inactivating may including application ofelectromagnetic energy (e.g., by directing a laser towards the segmentor junction), application of an electron beam, chemical attack (e.g., byan activatable composition such as a photochemical, an enzyme, or atargetable composition such as a nucleotide-containing composition),and/or application of a voltage. Application of a voltage may includeapplying the voltage to segments and/or to junctions, and may includeapplication of timed pulses, which may be timed to temporally overlap ata common center (such as the segment or junction to be inactivated). Thecarbon nanotubes may be arranged, for example, in a rectilinear array, ahexagonal pattern, or a three dimensional pattern, and may includejunctions connecting at least or exactly three segments. Providing thearray of carbon nanotubes may include growing the carbon nanotubes alongselected paths. The carbon nanotubes may include semiconductingnanotubes and/or metallic nanotubes. The method may further includemeasuring an electrical property of at least one segment or junction,and may in addition selecting a segment or junction to inactivate inresponse to the measured electrical property.

In another aspect, a carbon nanotube circuit template includes aplurality of carbon nanotube segments that interconnect to formjunctions. At least one of the segments or at least one of the junctionsexhibits a nonlinear current-voltage response, and at least one of thesegments or at least one of the junctions is deletable. The carbonnanotubes may be arranged, for example, in a rectilinear array, ahexagonal pattern, or a three dimensional pattern, and may includejunctions connecting at least or exactly three segments. The carbonnanotubes may include at least one semiconducting segment and/or atleast one metallic segment. At least one of the carbon nanotubes may bedeletable by application of electromagnetic energy (e.g., by directing alaser towards the segment or junction), application of an electron beam,chemical attack (e.g., by an activatable composition such as aphotochemical, an enzyme, or a targetable composition such as anucleotide-containing composition), and/or application of a voltage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic of a template device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic of the template device of FIG. 1 after selectiveediting.

FIG. 3 is a schematic of an interconnected set of carbon nanotubes(CNTs).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Carbon nanotubes represent an attractive candidate material fordramatically reducing device sizes. They have been shown to exhibitdiode-like properties when “kinks” (pentagon-heptagon defect pairs) areintroduced (see, e.g., Yao et al., “Carbon nanotube intramolecularjunctions,” Nature 402:273-276 (November 1999), incorporated byreference herein), and crossed nanotubes may act as nanoscale p-typeSchottky diodes (see, e.g., Fuhrer, et al., “Transport through crossednanotubes,” Physica E 6:868-871 (2000), hereinafter referred to as“Fuhrer I,” Fuhrer, et al., “Crossed Nanotube Junctions,” Science288:494-497 (April 2000), hereinafter referred to as “Fuhrer II,” andPatwardhan, et al., “Circuit and System Architecture for DNA-GuidedSelf-Assembly of Nanoelectronics,” Proc. 1st Conf Foundations ofNanosci. 344-358 (April 2004), all of which are incorporated herein byreference).

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) may be metallic orsemiconducting depending on their chirality. Individual SWCNTs have achirality defined by circumferential vector (n,m) in terms of graphitelattice units. When (n−m)/3 is an integer, the SWCNTs generally behaveas metals, while other SWCNTs generally behave as semiconductors. FuhrerII found three types of behavior for crossed SWCNTs, depending onwhether the constituent CNTs were metallic-metallic (MM),semiconducting-semiconducting (SS), or metallic-semiconducting (MS). MMjunctions and SS junctions exhibited roughly linear I-V behavior, withMM conductivities in the range of 0.086-0.26 e²/h and SS conductivitiesin the range of at least 0.011-0.06 e²/h. MS junctions exhibitednonlinear I-V behavior, with much lower conductivities in the linearrange and with a Schottky barrier of 190-290 meV. Theoreticalcalculations (see, e.g., Buldum, et al. “Contact resistance betweencarbon nanotubes,” Phys. Rev. B 63:161403(R) (April 2001), incorporatedherein by reference) suggest that the conductivity of such junctions maybe a sensitive function of atomic structure in the contact region (e.g.,registration of hexagon structures in adjacent nanotubes).

CNTs may also be fabricated in a Y-shape, in which three nanotubesconverge at a junction (see, e.g., Papadapoulos “Electronic Transport inY-Junction Carbon Nanotubes,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 85(16):3476-3479,incorporated herein by reference). Such systems (and the special subsetof T-shaped junctions) have been computationally modeled and found toexhibit current rectification (see, e.g., Srivastava, et al.,“Computational Nanotechnology with Carbon Nanotubes and Fullerenes,”Comp. Sci. Eng. 3(4):42-55 (July/August 2001), incorporated herein byreference). Experimental results (Papadapoulos, supra) confirmrectifying behavior.

The rectifying structures described above may be combined to form morecomplex circuit elements (e.g., logic gates, such as those described inDerycke, et al., “Carbon Nanotube Inter- and Intramolecular LogicGates,” Nano Lett., 1(9):453-456 (August 2001), incorporated herein byreference) and circuits (e.g., a scalable one-bit adder, described inPatwardhan, supra), using conventional circuit design principles.

As shown in FIG. 1, a template device comprises two arrays of CNTs 10,12 set at an angle to one another (90 degrees as shown, but other anglesmay also be used). An intermediate layer 14 is interposed between thetwo arrays of CNTs. (FIG. 1 is shown in exploded view for clarity; inmost embodiments, the CNTs 10, 12 will be in contact or at least inclose proximity to intermediate layer 14.) As shown, the intermediatelayer 14 is a flat layer, but in other embodiments, it may be a coatingon the CNTs or have any other physical configuration that interposes itbetween CNTs of the two arrays. The CNTs of each array may be metallic,semiconducting, or a mixture of both types. In the configuration shownin FIG. 1, the CNTs of the first array 10 are insulated from the CNTs ofthe second array 12 by the intermediate layer.

FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the template device of FIG. 1 afterselective editing of the intermediate layer 14. As seen at junction 16,the intermediate layer is removed, allowing a CNT of the first array 10and a CNT of the second array 12 to contact one another to form ajunction. In addition, segment of CNT 18 has been removed between twoadditional junctions 20. In some embodiments, segments or junctions maybe removed by an electron beam, ion beam, and/or a laser beam, either bydirect etching or by illumination followed by a chemical developmentprocess. In other embodiments, segments or junctions may be removed byapplication of a voltage, for example by application of one or moretimed pulses along the CNTs that are selected to temporally overlap at acommon center, or by application of a voltage directly to a junction orsegment. By selecting junctions at which the CNTs may be connected andsegments or junctions in which they may be removed, complex circuits ofCNTs can be built up in the template. In other embodiments, additionalintermediate layers and CNT arrays may be added to increase theavailable complexity.

The intermediate layer 14 may comprise any material that serves toseparate the CNTs and that can be selectively removed or deactivated. Insome embodiments, the intermediate layer may comprise a resistcomposition, which may be removed by conventional lithographictechniques (including but not limited to photoresist, e-beam resist, orX-ray resist). In other embodiments, the resist may comprise a materialthat can be locally removed or deactivated by application of a voltagebetween the first selected CNT and the second CNT, potentially obviatingthe need for lithographic systems.

The arrays of CNTs 10 and 12 may be formed by a variety of methods,including but not limited to pick-and-place, self-assembly ofalready-formed CNTs (e.g., by the methods of Dwyer, et al., “The Designof DNA Self-Assembled Computing Circuitry,” IEEE Trans. VLSI Sys.,12(11):1214-1220 (November 2004), incorporated herein by reference), orin situ growth of CNTs (e.g., by the methods of Jung, et al., “Mechanismof Selective Growth of Carbon Nanotubes on SiO₂/Si Patterns,” Nano Lett.3(4):561-564 (March 2003), incorporated herein by reference). Some ofthese methods may lend themselves to production of CNTs havingparticular chiralities and/or conductivities, while others may producearrays of CNTs having a distribution of chiralities and/orconductivities.

In embodiments where the chiralities and/or conductivities are not knowna priori, it may be desirable to interrogate the material properties ofindividual CNTs in order to determine appropriate connections and/ordeletions (e.g., by electrical testing, plasmon interactions, opticaltesting, atomic force microscopy, and/or other types of microscopy). Instill other embodiments, it may be desirable to interrogate propertiesof individual CNTs or of groups of CNTs to locate regions having desiredproperties after some or all of the connections and/or deletions havebeen made. In yet other embodiments, it may be desirable to examinephysical properties, as well as or instead of electrical properties, ofCNTs and junction during any point in the process to determineadditional connections and/or deletions or other configurationalaspects. Physical properties may include, but are not limited to,location, size, defect location, and/or chemical environment.

FIG. 3 shows an interconnected set of CNTs including Y junctions 30.Such an interconnected set may be produced, for example, by welding oflong nanotubes (see, e.g., Terrones, et al., “Molecular Junctions byJoining Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 89(7):075505(August 2002), and Krasheninnikov, et al., “Ion-irradiation inducedwelding of carbon nanotubes,” Phys. Rev. B, 66:245403 (2002), both ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference). Arrays of Y-branched CNTshave also been produced by Papadopoulos, supra; these can beinterconnected by similar techniques, or by the selectiveinterconnection technique illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. In someembodiments, production of such interconnected sets of CNTs may beeffectively random, while in other embodiments, CNTs may beinterconnected in a predictable pattern.

In either case, sections 32 of the interconnected set 30 may bedetermined to act as logic gates or other desired circuit elements orcircuits. In some embodiments, such sections may be located bydetermination of the chirality and/or conductivity of individualsegments within the interconnected set by empirically determining theelectrical properties of a interconnected set through application ofvoltages to selected “input” CNTs 34 and measurement of selected“output” CNTs 36, or by a combination of these methods (e.g., bydetermining chirality of selected “input” and “output” CNTs, identifyinginterconnecting junctions between them, and applying signals to the CNTsto determine behavior of the set of input CNTs, output CNTs, andinterconnecting junctions). In some embodiments, segments or junctionsof the interconnected set 30 may be deleted as discussed above. Suchdeletion may occur before, during, or after any measurement ofproperties of the interconnected set.

In a large interconnected set 30, many sections 32 having desiredcircuit properties may be present (either by design and controlledself-assembly, or by chance). Once identified as discussed above, thesesections may be isolated from the interconnected set, either physically(by cutting junctions outside the desired section and moving it to adesired location), or effectively, by disconnecting segments ofjunctions not in the desired section to leave only continuous CNTs(which may function as leads) connected to the desired section inputsand outputs.

In some embodiments, template structures such as those shown in FIGS. 1and 3 may be constructed in bulk, and then individually edited to formcustom circuits. In such embodiments (and in particular in embodimentsin which the chiralities and/or conductivities of individual CNTs arenot known a priori), the determination of which CNT sections to connectand/or delete may be made using customized software.

In some embodiments, the customized software accesses a model of a CNTtemplate structure (using measurements of properties of CNTs in theparticular template if appropriate) and identifies the effect of editingthe CNT template structure, either by deleting segments or junctions, orby forming connections between segments in physical proximity. The modelincludes the electrical behavior of the CNT segments and junctions ofthe template (e.g., the rectifying properties or lack thereof ofindividual junctions, and/or the conductivities of the CNT segments).

In some embodiments, the customized software may determine circuitbehavior from first principles. In other embodiments, the software maystore schematics for building block structures (including by way ofnonlimiting example the logic gates and adders discussed above), andallow circuit designers to specify circuit designs using conventionalmethods. The software then locates regions within the model of thetemplate structure that could be modified as discussed above toimplement the particular designs. In some embodiments, a computer-basedsystem may then control the application of voltages, dynamic masks,serial e-beam etchers, or whatever other editing tools were appropriateto produce the desired circuit on a particular template structure.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the artof circuit design has progressed to the point where there is typicallylittle distinction left between hardware and software implementations ofaspects of systems. The use of hardware or software is generally adesign choice representing tradeoffs between cost, efficiency,flexibility, and other implementation considerations. Those having skillin the art will appreciate that there are various vehicles by whichprocesses, systems and/or other technologies involving the use of logicand/or circuits can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/orfirmware, potentially including CNT-based circuits in whole or in part),and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context in which theprocesses, systems and/or other technologies are deployed. For example,if an implementer determines that speed is paramount, the implementermay opt for a mainly hardware and/or firmware vehicle. Alternatively, ifflexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly softwareimplementation. In these or other situations, the implementer may alsoopt for some combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware,potentially including CNT-based circuits in whole or in part. Hence,there are several possible vehicles by which the processes, devicesand/or other technologies involving logic and/or circuits describedherein may be effected, none of which is inherently superior to theother. Those skilled in the art will recognize that optical aspects ofimplementations may require optically-oriented hardware, software, andor firmware.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from a consideration of the specification or practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification beconsidered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of theinvention being indicated by the following claims.

1.-25. (canceled)
 26. A carbon nanotube (CNT) circuit template,comprising: a plurality of isolated CNT segments, the CNT segmentsinterconnecting to form electrically-responsive junctions, wherein atleast one of the CNT segments or at least one of the junctions isconfigured to exhibit a nonlinear current-voltage response, and whereinat least one of the CNT segments or at least one of the junctions isconfigured for selective deletion by means of application ofelectromagnetic energy.
 27. The CNT circuit template of claim 26,wherein the CNT segments are arranged in a rectilinear array.
 28. TheCNT circuit template of claim 26, wherein the CNTs are arranged in ahexagonal pattern.
 29. The CNT circuit template of claim 26, wherein theCNTs are arranged in a three-dimensional pattern.
 30. The CNT circuittemplate of claim 26, wherein the template includes at least onejunction connecting at least three segments.
 31. The CNT circuittemplate of claim 26, wherein the template includes at least onejunction connecting exactly three segments.
 32. The CNT circuit templateof claim 26, wherein the CNT segments include at least onesemiconducting CNT segment.
 33. The CNT circuit template of claim 26,wherein the CNT segments include at least one metallic CNT segment.34.-51. (canceled)
 52. A carbon nanotube (CNT) circuit template,comprising: a first array of substantially parallel, laterally separatedCNTs; a second array of substantially parallel, laterally separated CNTsarranged at an angle to the first array of CNTs; and an intermediatelayer disposed between the first array of CNTs and the second array ofCNTs; wherein the intermediate layer includes a material configured tobe removed or deactivated by exposure to an energy, permitting at leastone CNT of the first array of CNTs to contact at least one CNT of thesecond array of CNTs.
 53. A carbon nanotube (CNT) circuit template,comprising: a plurality of isolated CNT segments, the CNT segmentsinterconnecting to form electrically-responsive junctions, wherein atleast one of the CNT segments or at least one of the junctions isconfigured to exhibit a nonlinear current-voltage response, and whereinat least one of the CNT segments or at least one of the junctions isconfigured for selective deletion by means of chemically attacking theat least one segment or junction.
 54. The CNT circuit template of claim53, wherein chemically attacking the at least one segment or junctionincludes applying an activatable composition to the at least one segmentor junction, and selectively activating the activatable composition. 55.The CNT circuit template of claim 54, wherein the activatablecomposition is photosensitive, and wherein selectively activating theactivatable composition includes applying electromagnetic energy to theactivatable composition.
 56. The CNT circuit template of claim 54,wherein the activatable composition is an enzyme.
 57. The CNT circuittemplate of claim 54, wherein the activatable composition includes anucleotide.